HillCountry HouseConcerts

[Hill Country House Concerts are a Certified House Concert under the Folk Alliance International PRO agreement]

SPAM CONCERNS: see below.

Some have wondered and some have asked why we do not disclose our venue location on the website, or why we do not advertise our concerts publicly. It all has to do with the power of the Performance Rights Organizations, or PRO's to effectively restrict us from doing so.

What are the PRO's? They are organizations set up to look after the interest of copyright owners. Wikipedia defines: "Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) provide intermediary functions, particularly royalty collection, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly such as shopping and dining venues.

The key issue is "publicly". If we advertise WITHOUT stating that our concerts are by invitation only, then it might be inferred that we are open to the public. (However if we should advertise "by invitation only", can you imagine that the advertising would produce much in the way of results and could possibly be cost effective?)

Likewise if we show directions to the venue, then people who have not been invited could turn up, and again it might be said that we are open to the public.

Now no one that I know disagree with copyright owners receiving all that they are properly due, so there is no issue with the PRO's collecting fees from places where the owners interests MIGHT NOT OTHERWISE BE REPRESENTED.

All house concert presenters, as far as I know, DO DISAGREE with the PRO's position that house concert venues are properly within their purview. Why? Because we present singer/songwriters who perform their own material for which they are the copyright owners and the musicians receive 100% of the revenue resulting from the performance of those songs. So in our opinion there is no proper cause for PRO's to intervene on behalf of the copyright owner in the case of house concerts.

While indeed there is a case to be made for the copyright interests of a co-write or cover, until these musicians (performer and co-writer) start receiving a fair share of the fees collected by the PRO's, we are convinced that the exposure of the song benefits the co-writer far more than any likely monetary result. And until the PRO's begin to actually pay whatever tiny benefit the performance of a co-write or a cover to the entitled party, as far as house concerts are concerned, this is a specious argument.

Nonetheless the reality is that the PRO's are very strong and have successfully lobbied federal legislation that gives them enormous legal power. We presenters are doing what we do for the sake of the music, and not to fight with the PRO's over control, and so we simply yield and do what they require. It would be wonderful if these concerts could be open to the public thus INCREASING the benefits to the copyright owners (the performing musicians), but it is, at least for now, not to be.

A final note on this, one of the ways we are exempted is by restricting our invitations to family and a wide circle of friends. In order for us to begin our friendship, we need to know a bit about you such as your full name, the name of your significant other, and your town/city address. Thank you for providing this information promptly if you have not already done, so that we can begin sending you invitations.

SPAM: While some, I hope tongue in cheek, have suggested that my email messages should be classified, due to their length, as spam, I am hopeful that this is not a widely held view. More directly, we will never release your email address to any third party. You will only be emailed with information about our concerts and local music events.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY: By requesting seats pursuant to our invitation to attend a concert, you agree to honor the stipulations under "FULL HOUSE" mid page on the "CONCERTS GUIDE" tab above and agree to hold us harmless from any claim you might otherwise make (see "Hazards" at bottom of "Concert Guide" page).

[Hill Country House Concerts are a Certified House Concert under the Folk Alliance International PRO agreement]